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Morrisons Twins Local Stores with Hospice

May 20, 2010

Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice has received a significant boost this week, with the announcement that national supermarket Morrisons has twinned four local stores with the charity for nearly a year of fundraising.

The retailer’s shops in Rubery, Small Heath, Shirley and Solihull will take part in an array of fundraising activities for the Hospice, which cares for adults with terminal and long-term debilitating illnesses across Birmingham and Sandwell.

The initiative is part of a 10 month-long partnership between Morrisons supermarkets throughout the country and national hospice movement Help the Hospices.

To mark the launch of the campaign, the Rubery store participated in a coin drop, being replicated across the company’s 425 nationwide stores, with staff urging customers to drop a few coins into a bucket.

Birmingham St Mary’s Head of Fundraising Caroline Taylor was confident the initiative would make a major impact on the Selly Park-based Hospice’s fundraising targets.

“With less than half of our costs being met by the NHS we really heavily on public and corporate goodwill to ensure the Hospice is able to continue providing life changing care, so securing this partnership is a real coup.

“We look forward to working closely with Morrisons, who I’m sure are going to do their best to raise as much money as possible for us over the course of the next 10 months. Our community fundraising team has got to bring in £2.7 million in 2010/11, so we need all the support we can get,” she said.

Rubery Morrisons Store Personnel Manager Jan Wild expected her branch to make a big contribution to Birmingham St Mary’s.

“We are delighted that we have been twinned up with our local hospice for charity of the year, because we know how valued the hospice is in the community.

“I think I can speak on behalf of the whole store when I say that this campaign is going to be well supported. We look forward to taking part in a range of fundraising activities over the coming months,” she said.

Since its launch in 1979, Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice has cared for tens of thousands of people with life-limiting illnesses, such as cancer, motor neurone disease and MS.

With around 52 percent of the Hospice’s budget reliant on public goodwill, community fundraising is crucial to ensuring its highly specialised services can continue to be offered to the people of Birmingham and Sandwell.

In addition to a 25-bed Inpatient Unit, Birmingham St Mary’s boasts a 20-place Day Hospice and provides community care to people who wish to stay in their own homes.

The Hospice also supports relatives with bereavement preparation, physiotherapy tuition and counselling in addition to many other services.

Annual running costs stand at £6.3 million, with around £1 million being raised in the Hospice’s shops and £2.7 million via community fundraising events. The remainder comes from the NHS.

Birmingham St Mary’s nurses, often referred to by patients and relatives as ‘angels’, are renowned for going that extra mile to ensure people with terminal illnesses enjoy the best possible quality of life.

Pic caption: accompanied by Birmingham St Mary’s Community Fundraiser Jo Proudler and Ward Sister Kim Tonks, Morrisons Café Assistant Wendy Wenlock drops a pound coin into a collection bucket for the Hospice at 10am on Wednesday, May 19.